Physical Format-20190227

Edition two of our new irregular column finds us progressing into August 2017 with the Flying Vinyl selection for that month. Three of July's releases were culled from the collection after the previous column so let's see how many survive this time.

First up, on transparent rose-coloured vinyl, were Estrons with 'Strobe Lights' backed with 'Glasgow Kisses'. The A side's a punchy, speedy & nonsense-free introduction to the Glaswegian group, marred only by the fact that my copy appears to have a jump in it. Getting five singles new for £20 unfortunately maybe means a drop off in the quality of the manufacture. The B Side is more of the same (minus the jump) and is over way to soon. Another good initial disc. Fast forwarding to 2019 and the band had a new video out last month (here) and hit the road on tour next month. Their sound appears to have gone a bit pop unfortunately.

Reading's Palm Honey offer up 'Starving Hysterical Naked', one song split into two parts over the sides of their disc. This month's booklet describes the song as "expansive" but, by the halfway point of Part One I can only imagine it boring me senseless if experienced live. Just after typing that last sentence it actually went silent, before lumbering back into a bit of riffing. A CD would possibly have given this the release it deserved (or an mp3 ...), so as to see what the band were trying to do over the length of the whole piece but, as it is, the whimsy that turns up in Part Two (there are also tortuous guitar strangling bits) just sounds like they're trying too hard at too many things. It seems to be about suicide though. According to Facebook the band have done nothing since May 2018, although that could be fake news.

Hey Charlie get transparent red for their single (an EP has more than two tracks) 'Young & Lonesome' and 'She Looks Like A Dreamer'. 18 months ago their name was apparently "on the tips of everyone's tongues". Surely not for the A side here, which is a dull plodder if ever there was one. They manage though to dig out a funky bassline, some swearing and a good, meaty riff on the second song, however (causing my girlfriend to compare them to L7, though apparently unfavourably). For me though this track has a lot going for it. The trio are finishing a headline tour of the UK as this piece is published and have festival dates later in the year.

On the month's penultimate disc JW Ridley gives us 'Blitz' & '1990'. The first song has a broody, darkwave thing going on and The Smiths are an obvious comparison too. Hearing this now it's actually a surprise it doesn't ring a bell, given that it sounds good enough to have deserved radio play at the time. '1990' is a slower effort, perfectly suited to its place on the disc. Lovers being emotionally reunited in a film is what this could score. JW has live dates coming up in the UK in Spring and a new video here.

Finally for this time around we get to London duo Sides, performing 'Feel Better' and 'Do Tell'. "Inoffensive pop" is the first thing that comes into my head as the needle progesses around the A side. It's pretty danceable too. Possibly it overstays its welcome just a tad by the end. 'Do Tell' is more of the same (as if it would be radically different). Pleasant and equally of use in public spaces on a low volume or in more social environments to break down those inhibitions. Due to their name ithe internet is throwing up a lot of stuff clearly nothing to do with the duo (& I doubt they've morphed into a metalcore quintet) so unfortunately I've no idea what they're up to right now.